Adhesive tape products, primarily pressure sensitive adhesive tape products, are used in a wide variety of applications. One particularly high volume application is household and stationery use, transparent adhesive tape, that is a transparent acetate or plastic film having an adhesive coated on one side, is used in offices and households in a number of applications. Such tapes come in various widths including ½ inch, ¾ inch, 1 inch, and 2 inches. Metric widths including 12 mm and 19 mm are also common. The transparent tape is often wound upon a cylindrical core. The core has a width generally equal to the width of the tape. The tape core often has one of several inside diameters including ½ inch, 1 inch and 3 inches. Various lengths of tape are wound upon these cores. Common tape lengths and are 300 inches to 36 yards. Lengths can be 60 yards and more.
The above-described adhesive tape products are sold in very large numbers and therefore must be manufactured in automated facilities producing a uniform high quality product.
One method of manufacturing such products is to create a broad long roll of adhesive coated film, slit this film to the appropriate width, and wind appropriate lengths of the slit film onto tape cores. Some cores are large diameter (3 inch) paper tubes upon which the length of tape is wound. Another core consists of two thin plastic coaxial cylinders spaced coaxially about ⅛ inch apart with a central thin axial wall connecting the two thin plastic cylinders. This double-walled plastic core is often seen as a one inch diameter core used with ¾ inch tape sold for use in the office or home environment.
One problem encountered with adhesive tape products of the type described is called “telescoping.” In a roll of tape which suffers from telescoping, successive layers of the adhesive tape wound upon the core are displaced axially. Thus, the roll of tape takes on a generally conical shape rather than the cylindrical shape of a tape product not suffering from telescoping. A roll of tape suffering from a severe case of telescoping often cannot be mounted on a dispenser. Moreover, such a roll of tape has the edges of the adhesive of succeeding tape layers exposed and can pick-up dirt. A significantly telescoped adhesive tape product will be viewed as defective and not purchased. Telescoping is more of a problem with narrow width tapes when compared to wider tapes. Telescoping is more of a problem on smaller diameter tape cores when compared to larger diameter tape cores.
Adhesive tape products are often used in dispensers. The adhesive tape wound upon a core must be easily loadable upon a dispenser and also operate smoothly when a consumer wishes to apply a length of tape from the dispenser to a workpiece.
Small size is sometimes an advantage with respect to adhesive tape products. Thus, smaller diameter cores are sometimes used in an effort to minimize overall package and dispenser size. The core in an adhesive tape product must work smoothly in such a small dispenser.
In addition to its function of holding tape to be dispensed in the retail package, the tape core also performs a function in the manufacturing operation creating the product. After a sheet of adhesive-coated film is slit into appropriate widths for tape, the slit films must be wound into a finished product. The film is generally wound upon the tape core. The tape core must cooperate with the manufacturing apparatus in a way which allows it pick up the leading edge of the slit film, and wind it onto the core itself into a uniform non-telescoped product.
There is a need for adhesive tape products which do not telescope especially in the smaller sizes.